Jackson, WY
Boren, Fawcett & Norton
Nelson Boren, Cool’n Off, watercolor, 31 x 73.
This story was featured in the July 2019 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art July 2019 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.
WHEN NELSON Boren asked Legacy Gallery owner Brad Richardson what sort of paintings he’d like for a show this summer, Richardson responded, “Old-fashioned Nelson Boren: dusty boots, worn leather, ripped-up spurs, tough cowboy stuff!” The acclaimed watercolorist was only too happy to comply, creating detailed, close-cropped imagery that suggests western life while allowing the viewer’s imagination to fill in what’s left out.
Boren is one of three western painters honored with solo Artist Focus shows at the gallery’s Jackson, WY, location this month. His show takes place June 27-July 7. Jim Norton is featured July 18-28, and John Fawcett’s paintings are on view July 25-August 4. Each show includes about 10 new works.
One piece in Boren’s lineup is a bit different from the rest of his work. HORIZON depicts a cowboy in quiet reflection perched atop a windmill platform. Rather than featuring small glimpses of cowboy or cowgirl paraphernalia or dress, it includes the whole figure seen from farther away. Still, the painting conveys the same timeless feeling Boren and his collectors are drawn to, complete with weathered wood, rusty steel, and the well-worn leather of chaps and boots. “It’s really fun doing the textural detail,” the artist says.
Fawcett’s show features work in both watercolor and oil, and it touches on present-day ranch life as well as historical western scenes. Fawcett divides his time between a southern Pennsylvania farm—near where he had a veterinary practice for 20 years—and a northern Colorado ranch. A lifetime of being around horses and other animals informs his art, as does exacting research to ensure historically authentic detail.
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- John Fawcett, Under the Cover of Darkness, oil, 30 x 40.
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- Jim Norton, Early Fall, oil, 24 x 30.
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- John Fawcett, Catch of the Day, watercolor, 20 x 35.
In THE HORSE CATCHERS, for example, four 19th-century northern Plains Indians examine tracks in the dirt. As their tribe’s most adept horsemen riding the fastest animals, men like these would capture wild horses using lassos on long poles. Another piece, TRADING AT PIERRE’S HOLE, depicts a moment of bartering between mountain men and Native people during a large rendezvous in 1832. Many such annual gatherings took place around present-day Jackson Hole.
Longtime Cowboy Artists of America member Jim Norton is also inspired by the narratives of everyday life in the early West. The son of a miner, Norton grew up in Utah and Wyoming and has lived south of Salt Lake City for almost 35 years. His award-winning work reflects the advice of his friend and former Brigham Young University painting instructor, the late William Whitaker, who quickly noted Norton’s talent as a student and encouraged him to paint on location as much as possible.
The idea for EARLY FALL was sparked by oil sketches the artist made after being struck by the beauty of the light on fall aspens, with snowcapped mountains in the distance. Wet weather had softened the air, and the atmosphere muted what otherwise would be more brilliant colors. Norton worked the landscape into a painting of two Native Americans on a ridge overlooking a creek. “The main thing in my work is just going out and painting,” he says simply. “I keep myself fresh that way.” —Gussie Fauntleroy
contact information
307.733.2353
www.legacygallery.com
This story was featured in the July 2019 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art July 2019 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.
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